1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the storage of strings of decorative lights and physically similar items.
2. Description of Prior Art
The greatest problem associated with storing, and reusing, Christmas-tree-light strings is their very great tendency to tangle. It can be very time consuming and frustrating to untangle and separate multiple light strings. Sometimes the untangling operation causes damage to lights or to electrical connections. An ideal decorative-light-string storage device would require no more storage space than the light string itself. It would permit dumping the string into a handy box with other light strings, or coiling the string and hanging it on a peg. It would be inexpensive. It would protect the lights and wires. It would be quick and easy to use. And it would prevent tangling.
Most of the prior art dealing with light string storage seems to use reels or other winding or wrapping means. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,985 to Winesett (1997) teaches the use of a reel to store light strings between uses. There are several difficulties associated with such devices. Many of the reel concepts require mounting the reel, necessitating a dedicated location. When many strings must be stored—a common occurrence in our current culture—the number of mounted reels can become unwieldy. The nature of winding a light string on a small diameter shaft precludes the storage of strings with large, or elongated, or branching lights or ornaments. Not inconsequentially, such devices are not inexpensive. Most decorators would obviously rather spend limited decorating budgets on decorations rather than on decoration storage devices.
Several U.S. patents teach the use of a flexible, thin-walled, plastic tube or sheath which encloses light strings for storage. The benefits of this approach for making the strings “storable ” make it an advancement over reeling and winding methods. The sheath protects the light string from dust and incidental handling, and most importantly, protects strings from tangling. When strings are stored in this manner, they are easily unwound and separated. When the sheath is removed—which is easily done—the light string is ready for use.
Patents that teach this approach extol the benefits of storing light strings in a thin walled plastic tube. However, their claims, and their differences, deal with how each gets a light string into such a tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,724 to Rutherford (1991) requires that the user manually place a long plastic sleeve—16 feet, for example—onto a cord having a gripping collar. The sleeve is bunched up as it is put onto the cord. After the sleeve is on the cord, a string of lights is attached the cord, and the sleeve pulled over the light string. The sleeve is unbunched as it is pulled off of the cord to cover the light string. No mention is made of how the long plastic sleeve is supplied or handled. It is obvious that although the light string is eventually enclosed within a plastic sleeve, the process is cumbersome and time consuming. The cost of the associated apparatus and the complicated procedure make this approach unsuited for a disposable, low-cost, consumer product.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,688 to Pedersen, et. al. (2000) teaches an approach that is much simpler and more convenient to use than that taught by Rutherford. Pedersen would supply a thin walled plastic tube already collapsed and bunched up on a hollow cylinder. The cylinder is mounted, at one end, to an interior wall of a box. There is a hole in the box wall that corresponds to the hole in the cylinder. The opposite wall also has a hole that corresponds to the hole in the cylinder, but does not touch the cylinder. It is, however, positioned close to the cylinder. As a string of lights is passed through the holes in the box—and thus through the hole in the cylinder—the bunched plastic tube is dispensed off of the cylinder and onto the light string.
Pre-collapsing the plastic tube onto a cylinder makes the process more practical for the user. However, there are several problems associated with Pedersen's art. To achieve practical economics for a disposable product, the device will need to be made from paperboard, as is described in the preferred embodiment. Such a construction is not likely to be rigid enough to withstand the retail and home environments without distortion.
To easily dispense the collapsed plastic tube and pass the string of lights, the cylinder must maintain its shape and its alignment with the dispensing hole in the side of the box. The cylinder is a cantilever mounted to the side of the box opposite the dispensing hole. This arrangement makes it difficult for a paperboard construction to maintain a rigid relationship between the free end of the cantilever and the dispensing hole.
Also, as disclosed by Pedersen, the tubing must be collapsed onto the hollow cylinder while the box is in an unfolded, or flat, state. During this operation, the cylinder is an upright cantilever fixedly attached to the horizontal box cutout. Then the six box sides and seven tabs must be sequentially folded and glued to obtain the final product. This is an impractical procedure for mass production, and will significantly affect the cost of the device.
Thus, while pre-collapsing the tubing onto a hollow cylinder solves some of the prior art problems, it also creates problems of reliability and cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,769 to Collom, et. al. (2001) teaches the use of a “flexible lightweight plastic tube” for storing light strings. However, the procedure for placing the light string in the tube is more complicated and cumbersome than Pedersen's, and the apparatus is more costly to manufacture than that described by Pedersen.